Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia.
Int J Med Sci. 2021 Oct 31;18(16):3851-3860. doi: 10.7150/ijms.60928. eCollection 2021.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in both developed and developing countries. Due to its heterogenous nature, it occurs in various regions of the body and often goes undetected until later stages of disease progression. Feasible treatment options are limited because of the invasive nature of cancer and often result in detrimental side-effects and poor survival rates. Therefore, recent studies have attempted to identify aberrant expression levels of previously undiscovered proteins in cancer, with the hope of developing better diagnostic tools and pharmaceutical options. One class of such targets is the π-subunit-containing γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors. Although these receptors were discovered more than 20 years ago, there is limited information available. They possess atypical functional properties and are expressed in several non-neuronal tissues. Prior studies have highlighted the role of these receptors in the female reproductive system. New research focusing on the higher expression levels of these receptors in ovarian, breast, gastric, cervical, and pancreatic cancers, their physiological function in healthy individuals, and their pro-tumorigenic effects in these cancer types is reviewed here.
癌症是发达国家和发展中国家死亡的主要原因之一。由于其异质性，它发生在身体的各个部位，并且经常在疾病进展的后期才被发现。由于癌症的侵袭性，可行的治疗选择有限，并且往往会导致有害的副作用和较差的生存率。因此，最近的研究试图鉴定以前未发现的蛋白质在癌症中的异常表达水平，以期开发更好的诊断工具和药物选择。这类靶标之一是含 π 亚基的 γ-氨基丁酸 A 型受体。尽管这些受体在 20 多年前就被发现了，但目前可用的信息有限。它们具有非典型的功能特性，并在几种非神经元组织中表达。先前的研究强调了这些受体在女性生殖系统中的作用。这里回顾了新的研究，重点关注这些受体在卵巢癌、乳腺癌、胃癌、宫颈癌和胰腺癌中的高表达水平、它们在健康个体中的生理功能以及它们在这些癌症类型中的促肿瘤作用。
